Gun-Trafficking Doorman Sold Firearms In Morningside Heights: DA

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — A doorman at a Hell's Kitchen building who lives in Morningside Heights has been charged with taking part in an interstate gun-trafficking scheme in which he sold guns outside his own workplace and his home not far from the Upper West Side, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Roberto Carmona, 51, is facing a slew of charges stemming from the alleged scheme, which authorities began investigating earlier this year.

While Carmona sold the majority of the 80 guns to undercover detectives outside an office building at 423 West 55th Street where he worked, he also sold 18 firearms either outside of 192 Claremont Avenue or in the vicinity of Tiemann Place and Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights.

The Morningside Heights 192 Claremont Avenue address is west of Broadway and just south of the 125th Street 1 train station.

Carmona allegedly acquired the guns by working with a group of Tennessee men, who were also charged this week. Two of the men, Alan Goode and Melvyn McDonald, would purchase the firearms at Tennessee gun stores and then sell them to the third man, Harold Floran, who met Carmona in Virginia, Tennessee and New Jersey to exchange the weapons, prosecutors said.

Carmona sold the first two firearms to a police officer on Feb. 3, near his home in Morningside Heights, then followed up days later by selling another gun to an officer in front of the 55th Street building, authorities said in an indictment.

Carmona appeared in court Tuesday morning, with his next appearance scheduled for Dec. 6. The other three defendants are awaiting extradition to Manhattan, prosecutors said.

All told, Carmona sold the 80 guns at prices between $500 and $3,700 each, including pistols, revolvers, assault rifles and a sawed-off shotgun, prosecutors said. District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the indictments in a news conference Tuesday, with several of the recovered firearms displayed on a table.

"Roberto Carmona allegedly used his job as a doorman to operate a highly illegal, one-man gun show out of the Midtown building where he worked – storing ammunition in his locker and selling multiple deadly weapons outside," Vance said in a statement.

Vance said the takedown was evidence that stronger penalties were needed in order to stop the flow of out-of-state guns into New York City.

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.